Preservation of Evidence Error

If evidence is excluded by the judge, and the party offering the evidence thinks that the judge erred, that party has to make an offer of proof to preserve the error. The party must have the desired evidence presented to the court outside of the presence of the court. This offer is usually made by questioning the witness. In the rare cases in which the desired evidence can clearly be given by narrative, it may be so given. The offer of proof must be given before the close of the evidence. The idea is that the offer of proof may convince the judge that evidence should be allowed to be presented to the jury.